Vaughan Public Library expands storywalks to include more locations

The library has added storywalk initiative to 5 additional parks

Yorkregion.com
June 9, 2021
Alexis Gutfreund

Vaughan Public Library has expanded its storywalks initiative to five city trails.

What are storywalks?

The library’s storywalks split books into multiple sections and place them around a park so members of the community can walk around and find each section of the book.

“So every park, every ward has its own kind of tale. And then if people are so inclined, they can, I suppose go into another area and read a whole other book,” said Melanie Raymond, area manager for the Vaughan Public Library.

The library started the storywalks in 2018 at the Kortright Centre, according to Raymond, and still continues to host them there as well as the five new locations: Sugarbush Heritage Park, Mackenzie Glen District Park, Lawford Park, Nort Johnson District Park and Marita Payne Park.

They change the story multiple times a year at Kortright and mostly use Canadian authors.

“If it proves to be popular, we might switch them (the books) out with something else or we might rotate them around,” Raymond said in regards to the new locations.

Currently working with about five different publishers, the Vaughan Public Library is able to bring books such as “Stego-Cumulus” by Hilary Leung and “The Nut that Fell from the Tree” by Sangeeta Bhadra.

Raymond said the library wanted to choose books for the storywalks that made sense for the format. “So most of the books either focus on nature, or the natural world, animals, trees, plants, growth, because they're put out in the natural environment.”

Along with books about nature, there are also stories by Indigenous authors about Indigenous culture. For example, one of the books used in the storywalks is called “It’s a Mitig!” by Bridget George, which combines English and Ojibwa to teach readers about the forest and its inhabitants.

When the library first found the idea for storywalks, it was thought to be a great concept and opportunity to partner with the conservation authority.

“It's a way to bring the library out into the community in places they wouldn't expect,” said Raymond.

“There's not that many opportunities to throw events or to do large scale things. But this is a way that we could reach the community where they are without breaking any kind of rules.”

As for the new storywalk locations, the library is hoping to keep it going through the summer as per an agreement with public works.

The Vaughan Public Library is open to book suggestions for the storywalks as long as it is able to get the publishers rights and the rights to reproduce and display the story.

“So as long as they meet those kinds of criteria, and we can negotiate successfully with the publishers then, yeah, sure. We're always open to suggestions for anything,” said Raymond.